Monthly Archives: December 2006

I’m not one to make New Year’s Resolutions; I believe we need to constantly set goals and change ourselves from within all throughout our lives. That dogma nothwithstanding, there *are* a few things I would like to see happen in my life this coming year:

a) Hit 190 lbs. I went on a health kick in 2006 and it has yielded beautiful fruit. I would like to put myself into 2nd gear and hit 190 lbs with a BMI (body mass index) of 13%.

b) Buy a new laptop. The one I have currently is a HOSS (RAID controller; 4GB RAM, 17 inch screen…) but I need something that weighs less than 10 lbs (!)

c) Be nicer. This is one of those internal changes that will require effort each and every day for the rest of my life and probably can’t be measured except externally. By "nicer" I mean *less* mean, *less* sarcastic, *less* condescending, etc Yell less, speak softer more.

d) Be smarter. Another of those almost intangibles. I’m not necessarily talking about getting an advanced degree (no time) but I could read a good book or two (or three). I’ve decided to read one fiction, one non-fiction, and one political (right-leaning of course).

e) The last (but no means least): Be more spiritual. Let the reader decide what I mean by that.

Sitting next to a guy who is contracting at a large financial organization. He gets a phone call from his contracting company that his contract has been terminated. He calls his supervisor and asks him where he needs to turn in his laptop, etc. hoping that, PERHAPS, he would be surprised and see what might be done; afterall–it’s the week before Christmas.

Well, the supervisor KNEW and had not told him. So not only did Scrooge sack Bob Crachit; Scrooge called upon Bob Marley to tell Crachit he was sacked because he didn’t have the guts to do it. What happened to the "heads up" a couple of weeks ago?

I’ve never bought a refundable airfare. If I had to change, I paid the fee. I have never had to cancel, and if I did–most would give me a credit for a future flight. There never was a need for me to spend the extra money and buy a refundable ticket.

Never again.

I had two trips (international) that were almost back to back. One to Zurich and the other to Japan. I went through Expedia and bought a multiple destination ticket. NON-refundable, because the dates were sure. I ended up not being able to go to Japan and tried to get that part of my ticket refunded by cancelling the whole trip. No go. Expedia gave me the run-around with British Airways and I am now stuck with $6000 of tickets I cannot use. I can barely even write that. Let alone SAY it.

Never again will I buy NON-refundable tickets, unless I buy them the SAME day of travel.

With the release of a ton of innovative products such as Office 12, Exchange 12, and Vista–Microsoft has decided to sit on a product rather than release it. Knowledge Network, previously an add-on component to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, will not be released as a full blown supported product or even as an add-on product; but as a "Technical Preview".

According to the KN Team: "As a Technical Preview, KN will still be available to customers as a web download at no additional cost and will include documentation and community support.However, Technical Previews are not supported or covered by standard product support services or warranties. "

The key is "Community Support". In other words, Microsoft won’t help you if you have issues.

Another blogger by the name of MikeG (a MS guy) thinks that this will open the door for IBM’s project named "Ventura". We shall see if Big Blue decides to integrate with SharePoint. Doesn’t seem likely, this is just what Domino needs.